Service and Leadership
The world needs strong, competent leaders now more than ever. Communities and civic organizations need leaders just as much as government and industry. The difference between a successful and unsuccessful business and club is the quality of leadership.
Leadership abilities are not inherited; however some people think you are born with these great qualities. Leadership skills are learned and acquired through experiences: facing challenges and learning from failures and successes. We have all worked for people in business and volunteer organizations that we would go that extra mile for.
If you look at present and past leaders, they are all alike in three areas:
- Effective leaders provide a clear direction through their vision, mission, values, goals and plans.
- They foster collaboration through team building, delegation, coaching, and a service leadership activity.
- Effective leaders motivate achievement by providing feedback, support and recognition and by resolving conflicts.
In today’s world, many leaders in an organization have forgot that their role is to serve the team members, giving them opportunities to learn and grow as they work to achieve their teams goals; goals that should have been set by the team, not by upper management.
Years ago a leader was someone in a position of power over other people, who told those people what to do, and these people did it without question and with little input.
The authoritarian leadership is a style rarely practiced any more. It just wasn’t very effective. Today, young people in the work force have better qualifications, most are college graduates. Some have had the opportunity to do internships. They have more as you say “know how.” They would not put up with this type of authoritarian leadership. They would have their resume posted and would be searching for the next job.
This type of leadership has been replaced by a team style. A team is a collection of people guided by a common purpose, striving for the same results. In a team, people work together to determine goals and plans, and they share the work.
A recent talk by a genealogist I heard stated this generation can’t work alone. The only way they know how to work is in a group or team environment. I disagree. I have not seen this trend with the young people I have worked with. They set objectives and goals and work towards them. They don’t like taking unnecessary steps in a project. They have a plan and follow it. This is a good thing.
